"Judging by your reaction, you thought I'd launch a third attack while you were airborne?"
Seeing Jellal's face twist after falling into his trap, Kira smirked. "Come on, I'm not that guy. I wouldn't take such a cheap shot!"
To avoid anyone thinking I'm always pulling sneaky moves, I just tucked the third attack into the second one. No problem, right?
Jellal hit the ground with a heavy thud, the sound alone suggesting it hurt.
"Binding magic, like my Serpent's Restraint?" Jellal struggled briefly, only to find the bindings tightening. "You hid it in those chains? That's pretty underhanded!"
Who could've guessed a binding spell would have another binding spell layered inside it?
"Hey, hey, hey, that's not fair!" Kira protested, clearly offended. "It's just a standard tactic. You're the one who got careless!"
From Jellal's attack to being bound by Kira, the whole thing took less than three minutes. It completely shattered Erza's worldview. He's incredible—winning that fast? Is the gap between me and Kira really that huge?
While that was part of it, the real reason was Kira's knack for swooping in at the right moment. Jellal had been fighting nonstop, his magic power already heavily depleted.
"Either way, for a guy like you to get taken down in under a minute? That's on you for being too careless!" Kira stepped forward. "Once you're locked up in the Council's prison, I'll make good use of those magic crystals I collected. Don't worry—they'll do far more in my hands than they ever did for you!"
"Instead of letting them waste away on this sunless island for eight years, let their new owner—me—use their energy to benefit the world. I bet they'd be thrilled to finally be put to good use!"
"You bastard!!!"
Something—maybe Kira's words or his flippant tone—set Jellal off. He erupted, a surge of raw magic power bursting from him, shattering the binding runes that covered his body.
Kira stopped in his tracks, clicking his tongue. "Wow, breaking free just like that? Talk about a power-up out of nowhere!"
Jellal stood, brimming with newfound confidence, his magic swirling visibly around him. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! You're dead!!"
What's his deal? What's with all this rage? Over what? Is it really that serious?
In the original story, when Natsu destroyed his tower, Jellal just took the hit from Etherion for Erza. So why, when it came to Kira, was he losing it like this? Must be because my protagonist aura isn't strong enough yet!
Erza stepped forward slowly, her eyes fixed on Jellal with a mix of emotions too complex to name. "Jellal, surrender. You've already lost."
"Erza?"
Kira glanced at her, chuckling. "Tch, tch, tch. The mix of love and hate must be tough, huh? I get it—I feel the same way about these magic crystals I just got. Love the fun they'll bring me, but hate all the work they're gonna make me do."
"Seriously, if I had to destroy those crystals myself, I don't think I could bring myself to do it!"
Erza: "…"
Why does that sound so familiar?
"(((Nyah, nyah, nyah))) Having your love crushed in the bud doesn't feel great, does it?" Kira teased without a shred of tact. "The hope was right there, but the person you cared about got brainwashed and turned into someone else. That kind of disappointment stings, doesn't it?"
"That's why people shouldn't set themselves up for failure—flags like that only lead to tragedy."
Erza resisted the urge to smack him and sighed. "You and Dispel really are cut from the same cloth."
Huh? What's this got to do with Dispel? Speaking of, where'd that guy run off to?
Kira glanced around but couldn't spot Dispel anywhere. Instead, he saw Natsu and Happy charging toward them, with Simon trailing behind.
"Erza, you okay?" Natsu called out.
"Is that Jellal?" Natsu's flames flared, his energy practically bursting at the seams.
What's this? Is Natsu trying to steal my kill? Who taught him to do that?
With that thought, Kira held out a hand to stop Natsu from charging in. Stepping forward, he said calmly, "He's about to unleash his final big move. Everyone, get behind me!"
Tch, tch, tch. Never thought I'd get to say something this cool. I must look awesome right now!
Not far ahead, Jellal crossed his arms, magic gathering as winds roared and light twisted. A massive black hole began forming in his hands. "Disappear into endless darkness!"
The black hole grew rapidly, its intense pull threatening to suck in everything around it.
Whether it was the scattered rubble or the fading glow of the sunset, everything—tangible or not—seemed to gain weight, yet felt light as a feather, drawn toward the same central point.
"Dark Paradise!!"
If anything could counter a black hole, it might be another black hole. As the saying goes, you fight magic with magic.
While Kira couldn't create a real black hole with word magic, Jellal's Dark Paradise wasn't a true black hole either—just something that looked like one. Otherwise, how could Simon have survived blocking it in the original story?
That said, just because it wasn't the real thing didn't mean it was weak. Even Natsu and Erza could only tank this move with their bodies in the original, for reasons like being battered from prior fights, the emotional sacrifice of Simon, or giving the protagonist a rage-fueled power-up. Still, it was undeniably strong.
Kira raised one hand to shield against the howling winds, the other protecting those behind him, all while quipping, "Dark Paradise, huh? Pretty fitting name!"
Hearing Kira's relaxed tone, Erza and Natsu's tension eased slightly.
It was strange—every time, no matter how dire the battle or how critical the moment, Kira's voice somehow calmed their anxious hearts.
Even Happy, clinging tightly to Natsu's hair, felt reassured by the figure standing in front, shielding them from the suction.
Among them, only Simon, the big guy, wasn't under Kira's protection, but his size kept him firmly rooted.
Natsu grinned. "Kira, this one's all yours!"
Happy chimed in with a cute tease. "If you can't stop it, it'll ruin your reputation, ya know!"
Kira raised an eyebrow at their comments. "Oh? You guys are getting cocky, huh? Especially you, Happy—picking up flattery like that? Keep it up!"
Seeing them joking around, Erza couldn't help but be affected by their mood. "Trusting your comrades isn't something to be ashamed of!"
"Phew… Well, since you're all putting it like that, I'd be letting you down if I didn't pull out my big move now!"
As the dark orb closed in, Kira clapped his hands together and slowly pulled them apart, shouting, "Annihilation!"
In physics, annihilation refers to the process where matter and its antimatter collide, converting entirely into energy, like photons. It's also called mutual destruction or cancellation.
In magic terms, it's simpler: instantly analyze the target's energy or material structure, then create something equal in size but opposite in nature to cancel it out.
This could erase anything—magic in particle form, souls in spiritual form, physical objects, or even spatial pathways or life essence in unknown forms.
As Kira's voice rang out, a massive white orb appeared between his palms, expanding instantly. In less than a breath, it grew to match the size of the incoming dark matter.
The raging winds stopped. Time seemed to freeze. All that remained was the dark magic orb and the growing white light in Kira's hands.
One white, one black. One holy, one dark. One repelling, one absorbing. These two opposing magics collided, triggering a strange reaction.
What had been two massive, earth-shaking spells interpenetrated in an instant, then melted away like spring snow, without so much as a ripple. No spatial tremors from the magic, no stirred-up dust or debris.
Everything that had just happened vanished like a fleeting dream!
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